SNOW-PEAKS.
"WELL, Willie," said Mr. Gray the next morning, which was Sunday, "what
do you think of Switzerland now?"
"Nurse says it is going to be a fine day, Papa."
"Have you seen the mountains yet?"
"No, Papa. There's only a wall, and a tree, to be seen from my room."
"Come here and look out."
There was not much to be seen here either, except the little yard with
its mulberry tree. But, by standing close to the window, Willie could
catch a glimpse of a clear white patch high up against the blue sky.
"Do you know what that is, Willie?"
"Isn't it a cloud, Papa?"
"That is the snowy summit of a mountain—the Dent du Midi, as it is
called. It is a long way off from here, and it has seven peaks rising
up, all in a row, but you cannot see them all from this window."
"It looks very high up," said Willie, slowly. "But I did not think
mountains were like that, Papa. It seems more like a cloud."
"You will see the whole mountain more plainly by-and-by. There are
mists below, hiding the sides. It is a grand sight, Willie."
"Please let me see too," said Lucy.
But when she had looked, she thought even less of it than Willie did,
and the two children ate their breakfast with rather sober faces.
[Illustration]
They did not look sober though, or think little of the mountains,
after breakfast, when they started to go to church. It was a bright
clear day, and the lake sparkled in the sunshine as if it were made of
diamonds, and the mighty mountains rose all round, one behind another,
till Willie thought there seemed no end to their number. He liked to
see the great forests of pine trees too, which grew upon the sides of
the mountains, and the vineyards down below, reaching almost to the
shores of the lake.
He liked to see the Swiss people also, and to notice how unlike they
were to English people. No one passed without saying "Bon jour," which
Mrs. Gray told Willie was the French for "Good day." Mr. and Mrs. Gray
always said "Bon jour" back again. Willie wanted to do it too, but he
felt sure he should laugh if he tried, and he thought that would not
seem polite. There were nice old women in black silk and lace caps, and
other women in wide straw hats, with a little round knob at the top.
"Well, Willie," said his Papa, when they had all come back from church,
"what do you think of the great mountains now?"
"Oh Papa, I think they are just as splendid as can be," said Willie. "I
should like to go right up to the top of them."
"You could not go to the tops of the higher ones, for you are too
small. But some of the lower mountains you shall try, Willie."
"I should like to live always by the mountains," said Willie. "Papa,
the old gentleman in the steamer told me—"
"Told you what, Willie'?" asked his Papa, as Willie stopped.
"Lucy, you say it," said Willie, hanging his head. "I told you."
But Lucy only put down her head on her Mamma's dress, and Willie had to
go on.
"He told me, Papa—he said—he said it was very good of God to make the
mountains and the sea so lovely."
"And so indeed it is, Willie. Think how much pleasure God gives to us
all by the beauty of the earth."
"Papa, is there anything about mountains in the Bible?" asked Willie.
"A good many things," said Mr. Gray. "See if you and Lucy can't tell me
some."
"I know one," said Willie. "It was on a mountain that the Lord Jesus
changed so bright, and His raiment was white, so that it couldn't be
made any whiter."
"Quite true, Willie."
"And I know," said Lucy shyly. "It was on a mountain that the ark
stopped."
"Yes, dear; the ark rested on Mount Ararat, when the flood began to
pass away."
"And it was on Mount Sinai where Moses stayed up forty days," said
Willie. "And wasn't it on a mountain, too, that God spoke to Elijah?
And it was on a mountain that the Lord Jesus said those texts, 'Blessed
are the pure in heart,' and 'Blessed are the meek,' and the others.
And I know He used often to go and pray in a mountain at night. What
numbers of mountains there are spoken about in the Bible!"
"I wonder if you can tell me some verses of a Psalm which you have
often heard," said Mr. Gray. "Something about the sea and the hills."
Willie could not say what it was, so his father said the words for him.
"'The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand
are all the corners of the earth; the strength of the hills is His
also. The sea is His, and He made it, and His hands prepared the dry
land. O come let us worship and fall down: let us kneel before the Lord
our Maker."
"What does the strength of the hills mean, Papa?"
"Do you not see, Willie, what strong mighty hills they are—how nothing
can overthrow them! Nothing that men could do, I mean. Only God who
made them could destroy them. But to us they are indeed strong. Did you
ever hear that verse:
"'Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed
the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art
God'?"
"I don't know," said Willie, slowly. "Isn't there a little bit of a
hymn that we sing which is like that rather, Mamma?"
"Yes, dear. You mean this:
"'Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.'"
"Yes, I meant that," said Willie. "I like that hymn."
"See if you can find one more verse about mountains—in the sixty-fifth
psalm, Willie," said Mr. Gray.
Willie pored over his Bible for a minute or two, and then said:—
"Is it not this:
"'Which by His strength setteth fast the mountains, being girded with
power'?"
"That is it, dear. So in one verse we read of the strength of the
hills, and in a second verse of the strength of God who gave to the
hills their strength. It is good to think of our God as so strong,
Willie, when we know that we ourselves are so weak. It is good, because
He is just as loving as He is strong, and likes nothing better than
that we should go to Him for help in our weakness."